1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including an information processing apparatus that acquires user information stored in an external authentication server, a copier, a facsimile apparatus, a scanner, and a printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Under the conventional technology, for example, Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 2006-74786, No. 2006-127504, No. 2005-196337, and No. 2005-196560 disclose that a client apparatus acquires user information stored in an external authentication server (hereinafter, “LDAP server”) configured to comply with a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP), and performs various processing by using the user information. Specifically, when the client apparatus receives input of a user ID from a user, the client apparatus sends the user ID to the LDAP server and requests the LDAP server to check if the user is authentic based on the user ID as login information from the user. If the LDAP server determines that the user is authentic, the client apparatus requests the LDAP server to search for user information corresponding to the user ID, and if the LDAP server finds such user information, acquires the user information from the LDAP server. Some client apparatuses also request the LDAP server to search for user information with various attribute information included in user information, and acquire user information from the LDAP server.
On the other hand, the LDAP server sometimes performs user authentication. In this case, attribute information is possibly used as login information for the authentication. LDAP servers have differing specifications and processing environments. Therefore, attribute information that can be handled in one LDAP server may not be handled in other LDAP server. It is difficult to find a specification of login information handleable among all the LDAP servers. On this account, it is recommended to use a distinguished name (DN), which is handleable among a plurality of LDAP servers, as login information. However, a DN generally includes a great numbers of characters and a user may feel troublesome to input a DN as login information into a client apparatus.